A Virginia Congressman said recently that the education system in the United States is undermining American values and threatening the country’s very survival by promoting an anti-American curriculum.
Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) has made it his priority to empower parents and get the government out of education completely.
“We’re literally losing our country through our K–12 government education system and on our college campuses,” Good said during a May 8 webinar on school choice. “What I’m trying to do, of course, is to reduce the federal [government’s] role in education and the harm that’s being done by the policies that are already enforced.”
Parents Bill of Rights
Republicans introduced the Parents Bill of Rights Act in the House in March and passed the bill in a vote of 213–208, mostly along party lines.The act addresses the education issues that were highlighted at the Loudoun County School Board meetings beginning in 2021. Good worked to give “teeth” to the original bill, which he said did not address the issues parents were most concerned about.
Good’s office worked via the Education Subcommittee to strengthen the bill.
“We really led the fight in amending that bill and making it stronger to deal with some of the issues that parents are most concerned about or that are negatively impacting our kids,” said Good.
Even his own party members told Good not to take the bill too far in the conservative direction, because it might lose support, but Good was clear that the legislation had to address major issues, like transgender ideology in schools, vaccine mandates, and masking, he said.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s lengthy battle for the top spot in the chamber when Republicans took back the House was worth it, Good said.
“One of the benefits that came out of the speaker battle that we had four months ago was empowering regular order, where you work with committees of jurisdiction, and empowering regular members of Congress to have input on legislation,” he said.
Good said five amendments were added to the parental rights bill, including a provision to ensure that parents know what their child is being taught and how they are being treated by requiring schools to notify parents if their child is being treated as the opposite gender from their biological sex.
The bill also ensures that parents have the sole authority to decide vaccine compliance and that they have access to all curricula without paying high fees for copies.
Legislative Road Blocks
The parental rights bill will likely die when it reaches the Senate, where Democrats have the majority.Progressive lawmaker Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticized the bill as being anti-transgender, calling it “heinous.”
Therefore, Republicans have to find other ways to improve the current education system and prevent anti-American and anti-capitalist curriculum, critical race theory ideology, and anti-merit policies from continuing to ruin education, Good said.
While the GOP tries to enact these education reform laws, parents need to push back against anti-American curriculum and dangerous transgender ideologies by getting involved at the local level, particularly with their school boards, Good added.
Craig DiSesa, president of the Middle Resolution policy alliance, also spoke during the webinar.
“That’s how we enforce getting rid of divisive teachings in the schools,” DiSesa said, referring to parent involvement.
School Choice
Virginia does not score well on school choice because the state has “zero” options for parents, including crossing zip code boundaries to attend a better school, said Good.Most parents understand that school choice is important because many conservatives homeschool their children, and many whose children attend failing schools want better choices. Good introduced the Children Have Opportunities in Classrooms Everywhere (CHOICE) Act in January to provide more options for families.
DiSesa said school choice is a key element in empowering parents in their child’s education and well-being.
According to the congressman, Democrats do not support school choice because they want to control what is taught to children, and “they also want the money that comes with those state and federal dollars based on the enrollment.”
However, because so many parents across the country want school choice, Republican lawmakers have introduced a number of bills to give parents more options for improving their child’s educational outcomes.
This held across party lines, with 68 percent of Democrats, 82 percent of Republicans, and 67 percent of independents saying they support such policies.
The School Choice Act would allow Title 1 federal funds (which are typically a fraction of local school funds) to follow the student by being deposited into a savings account, and parents or guardians would be permitted to use the funds for private school or alternative public schools.
Reps. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) and Burgess Owens (R-Utah) helped introduce another bill called The Educational Choice for Children Act, which would allow tax credits for corporations or individuals who make charitable contributions to scholarship granting organizations.
Education Reform
Good wants to completely dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Good have sponsored a bill to immediately and completely eliminate the agency, which has a budget of nearly $175 billion.
The federal government’s money, while a small percentage of what states put toward public education, comes with lots of strings attached, and the federal agencies “bully and intimidate” school officials to comply with the DOE’s agenda, said Good.
“We ought to tell the federal government to take that meager amount and shove it,” said Good. “It’s really not worth it to suffer under the heavy, oppressive hand of the federal government for the meager amount of education dollars that come from the federal government.”
